14th Mumbai FIlm Festival Supports Local Talent

By K. Ashwin Mob: 00919920183006 E-mail: indianshowbusiness@gmail.com

In addition to the stellar lineup of over 200 movies set to be screened at the city’s most eagerly awaited cultural event, the 14th Mumbai Film Festival, presented by Reliance Entertainment and American Express and organized by the Mumbai Academy of Moving Image, promises to offer a platform to showcase young and talented Mumbai based filmmakers in a competition segment titled Dimensions Mumbai. A brain child of veteran actor and a distinguished Trustee of MAMI Mrs. Jaya Bachchan, Dimensions Mumbai is a short film competition open to young Mumbaikars below the age of 25 years and features short films of less than five minutes in duration made in any format and depicting any aspect of life in Mumbai.

Harmony by director Abhiraj Rajadhyaksha portrays the harmony demonstrated by different cultures that exist in Mumbai and describes how they respond to situations of crisis and tackle it to rise above hate in the end.

Errol Peter Marks’ film Kaarwaa chronicles the journey of the illustrious city of Mumbai, spanning from the year 1820 to 2012 and portraying all the joys and sorrows this city has experienced.

Director Shriya Pilgaonkar has adopted a very novel approach towards Dresswala, a film tracing the evolution of Indian cinema through the costumes of Maganlal Dresswala, one of the oldest and most prominent costume designer houses in the country.

Mumbai, A Long Live Local by budding director Abhishek U. Masurkar narrates the tale of the city that never sleeps from the perspective of the underlying busy night life that many have not seen or experienced by residents of the city.

Director Sudhanshu Prakash Sawant’s Aankhon Dekha Haal is a metaphor for the story of Mumbai and the State assembly shown through a couple watching the news of the state assembly catching fire on TV, while their son enjoys a pornographic book under the pretense of studying, while slyly keeping an eye on his parents and how the consequences that follow eventually lead him to burn the magazine.

Bombay Kulfi by Vaibhav Hiwase is an inspiring story about a child who with excitement about his little world in his shop and a unique interest in doing odd jobs sells ice-cream in this multi-coloured city. The film highlights the boy’s fascination by the vibrant sound of gully- cricket, the local dialect depicting different shades of the city and its young, unbeatable soul.

Director Nitin Rane’s film Mumbai Geometry is literally about the differently shaped objects found around that help construct the geometry of this magnificent Mumbai.

Aspiring director and student of Mass Media, Vaibhav S. Dhandha’s film Mumbai Healing is about the atrocities faced by Mumbai. It shows in a very abstract manner (with the use of visual effects) what Mumbai has faced as a city with regards to violence and terrorism and what Mumbai has in itself to survive all this and come up even stronger therefore making it one of the greatest cities in the world.

Hero directed by Mandar Dewalkar celebrates the lives of the unsung icons of Mumbai and pays tribute to the hero within every human being.

Aayega Ek Sunday by Ensia Mirza tells the story of one day in the life of Krishna, a chaiwala in Mumbai who works throughout the week in anticipation of a Sunday, a day which is meant to enjoy life as he feels like.

Abhijeet Bhimrao Gaikwad’s Dreams….. Under Construction displays the stark reality about the ever-expanding city of Mumbai where almost everyone dreams of having a home in one of the tall skyscrapers that are multiplying every day and almost choking the city. The film gives one keen insights into how apathetic people have become towards those who toil and help them fulfill their dreams. The underlying premise of the question the film asks is: Do we ever consider that an ordinary mason who strives hard to build our dreams might have some of his own dreams that remain unconstructed?

Tunes by Madhura G Mahajan lends a ear to the interesting tunes playing amidst the chaos in the city running-against-time.

Director Bakhtiyar Peerzada’s film The Essence of Mumbai captures the true colors and essence of Mumbai through the eyes of the common man as he goes about his daily life. From a taxi-driver to a cotton-candy seller to a street urchin, despite the responsibilities of survival and innumerable other tensions on their minds, all of them maintain a smile plastered on their faces.

Aajoba by Nihit S Mhatre focuses on the lives of senior citizens who are breathing under the dark shadows of the bustling city of Mumbai. Today is not an ordinary day for an ordinary 65-year-old man. He is expecting more monthly phone calls or yearly visits from his loved ones than he usually gets on that single day. Do his wishes come true?

Director Ashish Manohar Naik’s film Dreamweaver is about nineteen-year-old Rohit who lives alone in this city of dreams and works as a cobbler to earn money for his education. While working, he observes some men with a corporate demeanor who come to a tea stall next to his shop. He is attracted by their lifestyle and is inspired by them. He too has a dream. Situations make him envision himself as an achiever sometimes, and occasionally, as a loser. This twisted state of mind is cleared when he meets someone who indirectly inspires him to think positively.

Aath Aana, a film by director Devarsh A. Thaker narrates the story of an innocent child trying to find the meaning and value of a 50 paise coin that is now shunned by the people of this perpetual, teeming city, which was once the reason for its rapture.

IF by budding filmmaker Zeeshaan Ali Siddiqui relates the life of Shaan, an aspiring filmmaker, the only son and apple of his mother’s eye who meets with a train accident while on his way to meet a film producer. Lying brutally injured on the tracks, he gives his life a second thought.

Local, a film by director Bharat Suresh Pawar accounts the life of a newly married couple who try to foster their romance amidst the noisy cacophony of the city slums and the Mumbai local trains.

Diector Mandar Kokamkar’s film Do Rupaye Ka Pen brings to life the story of a pen that costs a mere Rs. 2/-. The protagonist the pen, is always teased by the fellow pens in the shop. He believes he’ll have to stay in this shop forever as everyone prefers buying costlier pens. One day, a poor school boy appears and asks to buy him. The pen, disgusted about being bought by a poor boy, decides to run away from his master but realizes that he is wrong as his owner considers him very important, and then helps the young boy to succeed.

Numbai by director Vedanti Chandrakant Dani tells the story of a girl who is brought to Mumbai from her village by a rich family who enroll her at school, but exploit her as domestic labour. She escapes from the house at midnight and experiences the dark side of Mumbai.

Director Ajay Singh’s film Safar is about a student from Mumbai, who is stuck in his daily routine and has lost his temper because of the shallowness that the city offers. Remaining indifferent yet concerned, this film takes you through his thoughts and emotions.

BSNL by director Chinmay Nagesh Dalvi describes the struggle for survival in Mumbai. Balu, a Maharashtrian and Shikha a Punjabi are busy discussing their future when they are interrupted by a couple from rural Maharashtra who shares the same thread of struggle to live in this city, but only with a different perspective towards life.

Director Sagar Kolte’s film Maooli describes how every new man coming to this city overcomes the challenges in his path and makes his whole day successful. One such man boards a local train and is tormented by the crowd and a group of bhajan singers. He suffers this quietly, also dealing with his own personal problems. Soon, he finds himself adjusting to the environment around as he starts to feel comfortable.

Ek Artist Ki Maut by Rahul Pandey adopts an interesting narrative by a deserted house about its former resident, a writer who was killed in a bomb blast.

Introduced to mark the 10th Anniversary of MAMI, Dimensions Mumbai provides young filmmakers with a chance to reach out to film buffs and offers the audience new vistas to a city which dreams and breathes cinema.

The festival will also host special event segments dedicated to French, Italian and Afghan cinema as well as silent films accompanied by a live orchestra, and provide attendees with an opportunity to be audience to panel discussions and participate in workshops conducted at the National Centre for the Performing Arts (NCPA) by cinematic luminaries from around the globe.

The 14th edition of the Mumbai Film Festival is scheduled from the 18th – 25th October, 2012 at National Centre for the Performing Arts (NCPA) & Inox, Nariman Point, Liberty Cinemas, Marine Lines as the main festival venues and Cinemax, Andheri and Cinemax Sion as the satellite venues.

For further details about the festival, please log onto: to http://www.mumbaifilmfest.com/Mami/index_v2.php?page=home

About Mumbai Film Festival: The 14th Mumbai Film Festival, presented by Reliance Entertainment and American Express, is organized by Mumbai Academy of Moving Image (MAMI) – a body comprised of Indian film industry stalwarts, which was founded in 1997 by late filmmaker Shri Hrishikesh Mukherjee. Noted filmmaker Shri Shyam Benegal heads the body that consists of film directors including: Yash Chopra, Sudhir Mishra, Ashutosh Gowarikar, Karan Johar, Anurag Kashyap, renowned actresses Shabana Azmi and Jaya Bachchan, actor-director Amol Palekar and Farhan Akhtar and Amit Khanna, Chairman of Reliance Big Entertainment as Trustees.